How to pop your pimple the right away

This is a controversial topic because you are definitely not supposed to be popping your own pimples, but we still can't help ourselves and I know that my readers do it because I can't help myself, either. It's human nature to touch things we're not supposed to. So I'm going to discuss with you the proper method for doing so, and I feel as though I've gained important insight after much research on the topic. What you will need: a magnifying mirror (so you can get a good look at what you're doing, I prefer 5-10x magnifying), a kleenex, antiseptic wash, cleanser, and your fingers (or someone else's fingers if you can convince someone to do this for you).


For an enflamed zit on the surface of the skin

This is the wrong way to pop your pimples

First, you want to sterilize the area you're about to abuse. Use rubbing alcohol on a cotton pad, makeup cleanser or sanitizer wipes and let it dry. You don't want to do this on top of makeup or on dirty skin because you will just be creating an opportunity for bacteria to re-enter your pore and create more of a pustule than you had in the first place. Afterwards, you should gently exfoliate the skin around and on top of your pimple to gently move the dead skin cells and prepare the area before you go in to extract. You should wrap tissues around your fingers like tiny little finger-mitts because you don't want the bacteria from under your finger nails (and trust me, there is a lot in there) to work its way into the pimple. Pimples are basically havens for dead skin cells, sebum and white blood cells, which to the naked eye just look like the filthy pus we associate with them. Place your index fingers, which should be wrapped in kleenex by now, on either side of your pimple and wiggle the skin towards the pimple and in the opposite direction, pulling away from it. The skin will tear just enough for the pimple to come out, and if not, I just apply a little pressure towards the middle and it comes out completely. Try not to pinch so hard that blood comes out because you will be more likely to develop a scar.Dermatologists suggest that you use benzoyl peroxide as a pimple zapper, but I have first-hand experience with the solution and if you have sensitive skin, it will quickly burn, so I recommend staying away from it unless you have already used it and know that your skin will not be adversely affected.

What to do with your blackheads

Proper method of zit removal

Follow the exact same cleansing and exfoliating techniques mentioned above, also be sure to do a proper finger preparation. Using your bare fingers and nails to press skin together is the absolute worst thing you can be doing for your face because you will break the skin, alter your pore, perhaps even creating a scar, and not necessarily removing the blackhead. The proper way to do it is to place your fingers on either side of the clogged pore and gently pulling the skin apart (away from the blackhead in either direction) and then gently rolling your fingers back together. This will coerce the blackhead to raise itself to the surface, and only then can you gently push your fingers together and extract it on your kleenex. Continue doing this for all of the blackheads you want to remove. Since you have brought bacteria onto the surface of your skin, you will want to use an antiseptic wash or rubbing alcohol to clean the area after you are done.

For those big painful nodules stuck inside the skin
You will either have to wait these out and conceal them with antibacterial concealer, or you will  have to visit a dermatologist to have them zapped. However, there is another method that might work for you. If you take a damp cloth or towel which is warm to hot in temperature, you can place it above the pustule and rub it on top until you see some movement. This make take quite a few minutes or until the next day, but eventually it will come to the surface. Some say that wet and warm green tea bags work in much the same fashion, so you can experiment with them if the towel method isn't working for you. Once the pustule has formed a white head you can use the steps outlined in the first paragraph of this article.

There are old wives' tales about using toothpaste or baking sode to dry out the pimple, but you should stay away from these substances because your skin will release even more oils from the abuse these chemicals cause (and you'll get an even worse break-out). If you've tried everything you can and you simply can't get it out, don't attempt to gouge your fingers into your skin because the abrasive and harsh actions will be painful and unsightly. If you are suffering from acne, you will NOT want to use any of these methods because the reason you're getting pimples isn't as simple as a little dirt trapped inside your pores and you should see a dermatologist rather than cause yourself harm. If a pimple is not ready to go, then don't force it, just cover it up and move on with your day. At the end of the day, it's just a pimple, we all get them all the time, nobody's going to judge you. Own it!

Vitamins to keep you looking and feeling beautiful

Vitamins for a beautiful lifestyle
There are vitamins that protect the skin against damage from the UV rays of the sun and skin cancer and can reduce wrinkles from aging and sun damage. These are antioxidants that eliminate free radicals which are the leading cause of wrinkles. They speed up your metabolic repair systems and inhibit the production of more free radicals and reduce the rate of further aging. You may be wondering how to get these vitamins, well we easily ingest them in our every day diets, and if you do not, you should consider increasing the amount of antioxidant-rich foods you consume.

Vitamins C, E and Selenium are crucial to your skin's repair systems and can be found in creams but they are in very small quantities, so you should supplement them in your diet, either as pills or directly from the food source. Vitamin D is needed to protect your bones and joints but it is also a potent anti-oxidant, and enhances the absorption of vitamins A and C. It can reduce the chances of developing dry and flakey skin, and ultimately protects against psoriasis (painful, itchy dry reddish skin which can happen anywhere on your body especially during cold weather). Some people swear by the effectiveness of Coenzyme Q-10 and it is a matter of scientific fact that it reduces the appearance of wrinkles, but you should speak to a doctor before consuming it because it increases the rate at which your cells reproduce, which can be negative if your cells are reproducing incorrectly (such as in cancerous cells).

B-vitamins are necessary for your entire body and you should eat foods rich in these vitamins such as eggs, enriched grain products and greens leafy vegetables. You will want to stock up on these because prolonged lack of them can cause dry skin which can promote redness and itchiness which will make it difficult for you to wear makeup. This issue is very personal to me, as I have lack B-12, and the major effects of this deficiency are that the body does not produce enough red blood cells, which slows down the skin's healing, circulation and not enough oxygen is provided to tissues which need it the most (such as the brain which requires it for healthy function). I find myself feeling lethargic, confused, dizzy and it eventually can destroy your nerve endings, resulting in numbness in your fingers and similar symptoms. Although we are often over-concerned with our appearances, it should be noted that vitamin-consumption should be taken even more seriously when it comes to personal well-being and health. If you suffer from various ailments and disorders it is even more important to maintain your body's ideal vitamin concentrations because they will help you maintain a level of health that would otherwise probably rapidly degrade.

You can achieve softer and smoother skin from consuming green tea and chocolate, that's right ladies, so stock up on hot cocoa that is high in flavinoids and or have a daily bite of  dark chocolate. There are also many vegetable-based extracts which have positive effects when consumed or rubbed topically onto your skin. So claims that your mother/grandmother makes about eating foods with tomato paste, rosemary, pomegranates and grape seeds are true. It may very well be that a combination of all of these in your diet can do nothing but help your skin and internal organs. The key to living healthy is everything in moderation, it is never a good idea to completely cut out one food group or another, as you will find that each provides benefits and is wholly important to your skin's hydration balance, elasticity (resistance to stretch marks), hormonal balance (which controls your sabaceous glands, which in turn control your skin's oil production - too much or too little causes acne).

If you stay away from foods that are very high in saturated fats and trans-fats you will be helping your heart stay healthy, but make sure not to cut out essential fatty acids because they help move vitamins A, D, E and K throughout your body's tissues to where they are needed most. Essentially, if you're not consuming omega-3's and essential fatty acids, you will not be receiving the benefits of the fat-soluble vitamins you have in your diet. Fat is essential to maintaining healthy skin as it helps you have younger-looking supple skin by making it glossy and firm. This is because omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids help make the cell membrane stronger and actively eliminate toxins in cells. It makes your skin (the dermal layer) release elastic fibers, which are nature's collagen, and as we all know these will remove wrinkles on your skin.

Here is a useful list of vitamins and their natural sources:

• Omega-3 -> Salmon and other cold-water fish, olive oil, walnuts
• Vitamin B-2 -> Eggs, milk, enriched grain products
• Vitamin B-6 -> Chicken, halibut, nuts, turkey, pork, spinach, baked potatoes
• Vitamin B-12 -> Clams, enriched cereals, liver, caviar, lobster, beef, cheese
• Vitamin C -> Oranges, lemons, bell peppers, guava, fresh thyme and parsley, broccoli
• Vitamin D -> Milk, fish oil, catfish, herring, orange juice, soymilk
• Vitamin E -> Sunflower seeds, paprika, whole grains, almonds, peanuts, pine nuts
• Flavinoids -> chocolate, hot cocoa, green tea extract
• Selenium -> turkey, shrimp, snapper, cod, tuna, brazil nuts

Giving your Lips a Nude Color

After purchasing the Lady Gaga Viva Glam nude lipstick from MAC Cosmetics, I nonchalantly applied it to my lips one morning, and to my dismay, it looked like nude powder had crackled all over my mouth. Clearly, this was not the way to apply nude lipstick. So I investigated how to achieve that perfect neutral pout you see on TV's and in magazines. This entry will showcase the steps required for you to achieve that pretty nude lip.

Exfoliate and Moisturize 
If you don't want your lips to look like they've been dehydrating out in the Sahara Desert, you have to remove that dry, flakey and crackled skin. Remember, as the weather gets colder your lips will become more dull in pigmentation and lose a lot of their youthful glow due to your capillaries constricting. To combat the dryness and pigment loss there is a very simple solution that does not require you going out and purchasing lip treatments for more money than you would want to spend. Use a pinch of brown sugar in approximately a table spoon of olive oil, mix them together, and rub the solution you have created onto your lips. The natural sugar beads will work as an exfoliant and you only need to leave this mixture on your lips for about a minute and scrub it off with your fingers, massaging back and forth to blend in the olive oil, which will act as a moisturizing agent. After rinsing your lips, apply a lip balm that you find to be highly moisturizing, I use the Blistex lip balms.

Contouring your lips
This step is optional but I suggest that if you don't want your lipstick to blend in entirely with your skin-tone, that you define your lips. You can do this by choosing a lip-liner that is a few shades darker than your skin-tone, but preferably still a neutral. Be way of going too dark because you don't want it to look obvious that you have lipliner on, that's never an attractive look. You should line your lips with the liner and then color in your lips with it in order to give them a continuous color. For a natural-looking blend, you will want to tilt your lip pencil to the side rather than draw with the point. Applying a lip-liner will also help improve the staying power of your lipstick and lipgloss and reduce the chance of the colors feathering at the edges.

Erase your natural lip pigment
To reduce the saturation of your own natural lip color, you will want to use a concealer and dab it onto your lips so that you can apply your nude lipstick on top. Remember not to use any concealer that is cream-based because it will cake on your lips and make them crackle, but stick to liquid concealers that have a wand in the tube for easy application. I've found that you can also use liquid foundation and it will work quite well but may not have as long of staying power as concealer. So that your lip products don't stick directly to the concealer, you will want to use a lip balm for moisturizing next.

Applying your lipstick and gloss
Technically you could just leave your lips nude colored with the concealer, but I prefer to add my own shade on top. Use the nude lipstick of your choice and gently push it into your lips, making sure not to smear too hard over your concealer and lip balm. Take a napkin and press it in between your lips to dab off any excessive lipstick after your application. When you're satisfied with the way it looks, you can decide whether you want a matte or glossy finish. Apply lipgloss to finish off the look in a glossy way or stop before this step to leave the lips matte. You can get interesting looks by applying lipglosses with various finishes (opaque, shimmery sheen, or translucent).

Happy experimenting!

NYX lipgloss set product review

Perusing shops, trying not to buy anything, you occasionally come across a deal that is so great, it boggles the mind. I was walking around Capitol Hill in Seattle, Washington and meandered into the hipster paradise that is Urban Outfitters. After wandering around mindlessly, not finding anything that would flatter me or anything that piqued my interest, I found myself drifting towards the makeup/jewelry section. I came across the NYX The Naturals lipgloss set for $10, and it just so works out that there are 10 lipglosses in this set. That brings your whopping per item price to $1, so you really can't find any better than that. What's more impressive is that these lipglosses are made by an established brand, and a pretty successful one at that, even for a girl who likes her MAC and Urban Decay products. There is another one in this collection that is called 'Love's Anthem' but the color combination didn't attract me, there were some strongly pigmented lip shades - namely maroon red, purple and yellow and I wasn't feeling adventurous.

I pulled the magical colored tubes out of their boxy confines and I had a revelation of a complete collection of natural tones that would make anybody warm and fuzzy inside. These shadows are so muted in tone that you can wear them anywhere, their appropriateness stems from how well these colors were chosen, they work with all skin tones, lip shades, and serve to complement your lipstick or lip-liner, if you so choose to wear one or the other. Personally, I'm a lipgloss girl myself, I prefer the natural, no-fuss look and I don't care enough to re-apply after eating or drinking. The negative aspect of this set, if you can even call it that, is that the shades of lipgloss don't have names, so you couldn't buy separate ones if you ran out of a particular one and really needed another. The texture is slightly sticky so you feel like they are on your lips, the taste has a hint of mint, which works as a refreshing tingle on your lips, and can help give you that 'beestung' pouty look.

As you can see in the swatches I did on my hand (I went in the same order as the colors so you can easily correlate the tube with the color payoff) these colors are truly neutral. There are various shades of pink, beige, plum, apricot and coral. Some of these lipglosses are shimmery (3, 9, and 10), others are opaque (1, 4, 5, 7, 8), and the rest are fairly translucent. The color payoff is highest among the opaque shades, while the sparkle-flecked ones are a close second. It was delightful when I realized that these inexpensive lipglosses had various finishes to them because that gives for a much more versatile collection. This was a fantastic purchase and as far as I can tell thus far, the shades have a usual lasting power that can be found in most lipglosses across the board. So if you're in need of some inexpensive lipglosses that will keep you happy and aren't just the usual drugstore brand, opt for the NYX lipgloss set! I've never seen this set around before, so get 'em while you can!

Color Theory: My Eyes & which Color?

Ever wander through aisles of eyeshadows in Sephora and wonder which color would look best on you? Do you spend painstaking time staring blankly at the wall of eyeshadows only to come home and find that the color you picked doesn't look good on you? Wonder no more! Here is a comprehensive list of colors that will look great, look yours up by iris color! Colors that are always out of the question are red and yellow, these two colors will make you look like you have pink-eye or jaundice, so regardless of your iris shade, stay away from these.


Brown-eyed beauties
If you're in this category, you're pretty lucky... not just because this is also my color, but because you can get away with wearing a lot of different options. Purple, violet and mauves are by far the best looking on this color because they just make your eyes stand out and have an understated elegance. As with all colors, don't choose something that is extremely saturated, or if you do, make sure you apply it little by little. Anyone can look like a clown even using the colors that are best suited for them if they go overboard with pigmentation. Another great alternative is metal colors - golds, coppers, bronzes, and even silver all look wonderful. If you want a warmer look, you would stick to the gold, copper and bronze, but if you want a smokey, colder look, opt for silver and pewter-tones. Green and blue can work, if done in the right way, otherwise they tend to look a little out of place and will bring out redness in your eye. Consider using green and blue eyeliner or opting for more washed-out versions of the colors, or maybe pairing up these shades with browns along the contour of your eye. If you contour your eye with the same color as your iris, you can pretty much pull off any of these colors. Very pale vanilla and ivory tones work well as highlighters. You should wear black or mauve mascara as the mauve is a naturally enhancing tone for brown eyes.


Striking hazel
Good on you, if you have this color, you must be pretty smug about yourself, and if you're not, you should be. This color is absolutely breathtaking and your makeup should reflect the beauty of it rather than detract from it. Don't use any colors that compete with the color of your eyes (so if you have a hint of a color and you can see it in your eye, do not use an eyeshadow that appears to be that color). Apricot and pink are great highlighting tones that bring out the light in your eyes. You can use light jewel-tones, champagne, mauve, and green colors to accentuate your eye color. Try to stay away from extremely black eye-liner because it will overpower your eyes and create stark contrast, you should use brown eye-liner and consider lining your eyes with mauve or green, as well. Dark brown and black mascara are the best choices for you, as they will make your eyes pop and make your lashes look like they go on for days!


Gorgeous green
Green eyes look vibrant and alive, they are the color of all things natural and support earthy-colored makeup. Various kinds of browns, such as chocolate, or wood tones enhance your eye color naturally. Your eyeshadow should be the background of the picture you are trying to paint with your eyes as the focal point. Choose colors that will not detract from the natural beauty of your color. Dark greens work well because they will not compete with your lighter-toned eyes, metallics such as copper or gold can look very elegant and sultry with your eyes. Apricots and taupes work well and will bring out the color in your eyes, as well as deeper purples and plumes to create a luxurious, glamour-filled look. You should wear dark brown eyeliner if you have vivid green eyes, but if the green is more subtle, you can opt for black to make the color pop. You can also choose to wear green eyeliner as a continuation of your natural eye hue. You can wear purple, dark brown or black mascara, this is really a matter of preference, you will look great in either. Highlight colors should be light apricots, champagne, and vanillas. You should stay away from blues because they will compete with your eye color and make your green eyes pale in comparison (because the eyeshadow is likely to be a more potent pigment than your eyes). You may look great or awful in pink, so I suggest trying a light frosty shade and if you think it looks good, then work your way to a more saturated pink.


Bodacious blues
Last, but definitely not least, the eye color that is considered the highest echelon of beauty, born of the nordic gods of olden times: blue eyes. Almost all hues of brown will complement blue eyes, except for copper because of the red-tones that will compete with your own color. You have very many options because a wide array of colors tend to look great on your eyes. All neutrals will look great, plumes and purples, and metallics will give you much opportunity to play with eyeshadows and combinations. You can wear blue eyeshadow to accentuate the color in your eyes, as long as if your eyes are greyish blue, you pick out the blues that tend to have that similar slate tone, but if your eyes are bright blue, you should wear colors that remind you of the ocean, such as aqua, sea-foam, and sky blues. You can wear eyeliner in purples, blues, brown and black, but try not to go for the blackest black because it can overpower your eyes. Try to stay away from green tones because it will compete with your eye color, detracting from the natural beauty of your eye color. You can highlight your eyes with gold, cream, vanilla, ivory and almost any of the lightest colors. Mascara can be worn in purple, blue, brown, dark brown, and black.

How to Simply do the Perfect Smokey Eye

Following a few simple guidelines, you can create a simple smokey eye and tweak the various steps to create a look that is truly unique and beautiful; truly you.

First you will want to, as always when applying eye makeup, prime your eyelid with concealer or a primer, in my case I used MAC's NC20 concealer to create a flat surface to which the eyeshadow can adhere. Then take your favorite black pencil eyeliner, in my case Urban Decay's 24/7 eyeliner in 'Zero', and draw a line overtop of your lashes. Continue this line and smudge it up over your eyelid and even in the crease. Use a brush to smujdge it out and create this 'smoked' effect, don't worry about being too clean about it, the fabulous thing about a smokey eye is that it's supposed to look uncontrolled and sultry. Make sure to color in between your lashes so you don't have patches of skin that show underneath the smokey eye; fill in your lashes. Then use a black eyeshadow or a dark eyeshadow (in my case it is MAC's 'beauty marked') and apply it liberally over top of the smudged black liner. I suggest that if you have lighter skin like I do, you stick to a darker shade of a color rather than going with black. This is simply because you will have huge contrast between your eye makeup and your skin and might end up looking like a raccoon if you overdo it! That being said, you can truly use any eyeshadow for this as long as you blend, blend, blend it in!!!

The next step consists of taking a shade lighter than the shade used to cover the eyelid and contour the shape of the eye, I used Urban Decay's 'Last Call' eyeshadow also available as 'Queen' from the Alice in Wonderland palette. Accentuate the arch of your eye, this is where you can play with scale and shape and give yourself the desired shape you want. Some people choose to not blend in their shadow here but, as you can see, the color will look very potent and this may not be appropriate for wear during the day or at work. I choose to continue blending it in. I also apply a highlighter, usually just a white eyeshadow or a very light neutral, lighter than my skin-tone. I blend the contour color and the highlighter together thoroughly until no edge can be seen. The final step is an application of liquid liner, I used Stila's liquid liner and some black mascara to give it that polished look. Finally, you can line your waterline (underneath your eye, above your lower lashes) with one of the colors used and apply an eye pencil on top just to make the colors pop. This last part is entirely optional in the look, some people prefer not to do it because their eyes are too sensitive.

I chose to go in a purple/plum direction with this smokey eye look, particularly because purple makes brown eyes pop really nicely as it is a complementary color. However, this same look can be done using any color, or any neutral you'd like, just remember that the base color should be the darkest and anything you apply on the contour should be a shade or two lighter. Experiment with your looks and let me know what creative ideas you've come up with!

How to take care of your face

I've devised a few easy steps, which come from my experience giving makeup tutorials for sensitive skin at the hospital, and my personal love-affair with makeup over the past decade. I will not be posting about expensive creams that promise to perform wonders, because I don't really believe that they do, and the beauty industry can be extortion a lot of times, using very similar, if not the exact same, chemicals in creams of all price-points. Don't believe the hype, nothing will make you look younger if you abuse your face, the best way to keep looking fresh-faced is to maintain a logical regimen that revitalizes and hydrates your skin.

Cleanliness is very important, washing your face with Dove soap or cold cream can drastically reduce your breakouts and proves to be moisturizing for your skin. The purpose of using soap when washing your face is to mostly remove the dirt and grime that inevitably build up in your pores from day-to-day dust and grime, as well as makeup. Also, it is important to be using brushes or makeup sponge wedges when applying your foundation and concealers, you don't want to be putting your hands on the product and transferring your bacteria onto the bottle or your face. For this reason, it is also absolutely essential to discard your  sponges after a few uses (use your common judgement, for me they last about a week) and to wash your brushes once a week. 

Morning

Do you suffer from puffy eyes in the morning and have to cover those bags up with tons of concealer? My trick to getting those down is a mixture of drinking plenty of fluids every day, getting the right amount of rest in (8 hours of sleep per night is ideal), andClinique's de-puffing serum in the form of a rollerball (retails for $26). It's great because it is hypoallergenic, the rollerball promotes the movement of fluids and stimulates circulation underneath your eye and it has a refreshing, cooling sensation that will cause your blood vessels to constrict. Ultimately, for all of these reasons it will bring puffiness and dark-circles to a minimum. I have this listed under the morning category, but you can be using it at night also.

Before applying your makeup, you should ideally use a daily moisturizer such as Clinique's dramatically-different moisturizer or Nivea's moisturizing cream. Either one will work, or you can use whatever is tried, tested, and true with your skin. If you are in a colder climate, you should opt for even more moisturizing in your cream (such as this Nivea). Apply just a dollop so that it will absorb into your skin before you put your makeup on (in the meantime, just get dressed, make yourself a cup of coffee, and let it seep into your skin).

 Then, for the ultimate morning-pick-me-up, use a pure Aloe Vera gel, all over your face to substitute for a face primer (be careful not to put it on your eyes, though, that can sting). It is a very inexpensive alternative to a facial primer and is not jam-packed with chemicals, but rather protects your skin with a sheer coating of the all-natural Aloe gel (you can find it at Wal-mart in a 12oz bottle for just under $4.00). This is a trick I discovered many years ago and I have been using it every day. If you apply this all over your face, you will have a flat, even surface to apply your foundation onto and it will act as a barrier for your pores so that your makeup does not clog them up. Try it once, and you will see a major difference in the way your foundation and powder sits on your face.

Night-time
Once a week, you can use a soft exfoliating facial wash, or use a silicon-face brush to slough off any dead skin cells from your face, but do not be too aggressive when doing so, or you will irritate your face and cause it to release more oils to protect itself and this will make you break out. Do not exfoliate every day, or even every other day, it is aggressive on your skin and you should do it sparingly.

More importantly than anything else is removing your makeup that you have been wearing all day before you go to sleep. You can do this with makeup wipes (although they tend to be alcohol-based and will promote drying your face), cleansing wash, or soap and water, but please do not fall asleep with that makeup on! I think it's pretty self-explanatory... you don't want all that gunk to be in your pores and on your eyes, the makeup will settle in your wrinkles (yes, even if you're a teenager) and will continue to wedge them in and make them even bigger!!! Nobody wants to give themselves wrinkles!

Before going to sleep, you should apply a night-repairing facial moisturizing cream and a night-repair eye serum, because you won't be able to keep hydrated at night (who drinks in their sleep?) and these will help your skin from drying out. I've found that Lancome, Estee Lauder, and Clinique make good products, so really here I use whatever I can get my hands on. It's a good idea to change these up, as your skin will get used to the active ingredients and their benefits will be decreased. However, if you are allergic to most creams and you know of one that does agree with your skin, then stick to it!

If you follow these rules, you will stay youthful and beautiful looking for as long as your wonderful genetics allow you to. Take care of yourself and your face will thank you.